Palaszczuk defends pandemic actions

For two years, the COVID pandemic disrupted life right across the country, forcing state and national leaders to make big and controversial calls about our everyday lives, locking us down and restricting travel. I think there was pressure everywhere. There was pressure on families. There was pressure on leaders. There was pressure on the health chief, health officers making those decisions, giving that advice as well. The decisions were controversial. And while many were happy to see borders shut and the virus kept out, vaccine mandates meant many who refused to take them lost their jobs, with recent court decisions ruling in some instances that was unlawful. Look, we put in the best policies at the time and I stand by that and we took the health advice at the time. The former Queensland premier also standing by strict border closures which meant many families missed out on important life events, from being with loved ones as they died to also attending their funerals. With the benefit of hindsight, could more have been done to help those families get back into Queensland and meet up with their families? I think it was difficult for everybody at the time, especially when families were kept apart. You know, often people talk about sometimes it was the best time of their life when they actually got to spend more time with their families. But you know, it was difficult decisions at the time and we had to take the health advice and we acted on that. Anastasia Palache saying while the decisions were tough, she has no regrets, pointing to Queensland's low death rate compared to other parts of the world. Is there anything that you'd go back and maybe do differently? I think what we've learnt a lot, you know, since those times as well and you know, we've got more health advice and but at the time, I mean, it's, it's always good to look backwards, but at the time you're making the best decisions that you possibly can. Tim Arvier, 9 News.